They made fewer picks than they had in 17 years and didn’t even have one in the first round. But the Pittsburgh Steelers produced a fruitful 2020 draft class.

Receiver Chase Claypool, outside linebacker Alex Highsmith and guard Kevin Dotson showed enough to indicate they can be above-average NFL starters. For a class that lacked a first-round pick, that’s considered a quality haul.

“I was really pleased with the contributions and the level of maturity displayed by the draft class,” coach Mike Tomlin said, “given the circumstances of how they came into the season.”

Those circumstances were unprecedented in that none of the rookies had the benefit of rookie minicamp, organized team activities or preseason games because of covid-19 concerns. Much of the instruction they got during the first three months after the draft came virtually.

“It is a tip of the cap to (rookies) and the people that worked alongside them, coaches — and not only the coaches, the other players and older players that mentored them,” Tomlin said.

“I was generally pleased with that, and I’m excited about getting them in an offseason mentoring program that may be more normal and is reasonable to expect those types of contributions to continue to solidify and get better.”

The coronavirus-affected season didn’t inhibit the production of Claypool, Highsmith and Dotson, who, to varying degrees, put their stamp on a 12-4 division champion.

A second-round pick out of Notre Dame, Claypool led the Steelers in total touchdowns (11), receiving touchdowns (tied, nine) and yards per catch (14.1). His 873 receiving yards ranked second. Claypool led all NFL rookies in receiving touchdowns and was tied for second in overall touchdowns.

“He is above the curve when it comes to physicalness and conditioning and mental,” Randy Fichtner said of Claypool last week before getting fired after the season ended.

While Claypool’s impact was immediate, Dotson and Highsmith had to grow into their roles.

Highsmith, despite playing a position manned by an All-Pro and one of the team’s highest-paid players, gradually earned increased playing time. He usurped Ola Adeniyi’s spot as the top backup to T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree and had an interception and sack over his first 10 games.

But the third-round pick from Charlotte was pressed into heavy action when Dupree suffered a torn ACL on Dec. 2. According to Pro Football Focus, from that point, only three edge rushers in the league had more quarterback pressures from the right side than Highsmith (17) the rest of the season.

According to ESPN and Next Gen Stats, Highsmith had a passrush “win rate” of 24% as an edge rusher. If he would have played enough snaps to qualify for that metric’s leaderboard, Highsmith would have rated seventh among edge rushers, one spot ahead of much-ballyhooed rookie Chase Young.

Dotson, a fourth-round pick from Louisiana, started two games at each guard spot and would have played even more if not for testing positive for covid-19 in December. PFF rated Dotson as the NFL’s best pass-blocking guard, reporting he allowed no sacks or QB hits and just one QB hurry over 219 passing snaps.

What makes the emergence of Claypool, Highsmith and Dotson so timely is there was a player ahead of each on the depth chart who was in the final year of his contract.

The Steelers are in dire salary-cap straits for the upcoming free-agent season. If Dupree, guard Matt Feiler and receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster are allowed to walk, it will be, in part, because the Steelers are comfortable with Highsmith, Dotson and Claypool slotting into their roles.

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